The Cayenne GTS is not even in the same league as the X5M, the 5.0 X5 is faster 0-60 by a bit and the performance is basically the same. A loaded GTS cost over 100k, you can get an X5M which will be miles ahead of the GTS.

The Cayenne GTS is not even in the same league as the X5M, the 5.0 X5 is faster 0-60 by a bit and the performance is basically the same. A loaded GTS cost over 100k, you can get an X5M which will be miles ahead of the GTS.

X5M is in another league. Just looked at 09 Ml63s, 10 Cayenne Turbos, and the X5M. After all my research the X5M came out on top. Not to mention its an absolute blast to drive in M/sport mode. It sounds so sexy when it shifts in high rpms.

Has anyone tried out the new Cayenne GTS and, if so, how does it compare to the X5M or X5 5.0si?

Performance-wise, the real competitor of the X5M is a Cayenne Turbo. Cayenne GTS would probably compete with an X5 50i with an M Sport package (and X5 50i would still be .1 sec faster to 60Mph).

Some people who had driven both cars said that Cayenne Turbo drives "smaller" than the X5M (makes sense since X5M is 584 Lbs heavier). However, price-wise there is a HUGE gap. Base prices are $108,750 for Cayenne Turbo and $88,850 for the X5M. A well-loaded Cayenne Turbo will run you $130K, while a well-loaded X5M will only be about $95K. Incidentally, that's how much Porsche is going to charge you for a well-loaded Cayenne GTS. Another problem is financing/leasing rates. Porsche's finance/lease rates are obnoxious and residuals are brutal. Porsche never has ANY promotions or special offers, BMW has something almost every month, especially around holidays. When I was shopping for my car in late 2011, X5M leases were $1200-$1400/mo, while Cayenne Turbo started at around $1,900. Guess which one I went with?

The cabin of the Cayenne is quieter and their diesel option seems to be a bit better. Cost of the diesel is also a LOT closer to the BMW Ds (about $6K apart after discounts on both sides for similarly equipped vehicles).

I used to have a Cayenne Turbo S a few years ago. It was a lot of fun but all that fun was constantly ruined by small, yet very annoying defects. It was under warranty, so everything got fixed by the dealer for free, but it did feel to me that I was driving around the dealership. First the back seats got stuck in the fold-down position because the seatbelt got stuck. Then the Nav / Radio system would consistently reboot itself at random, sometimes every 20 minutes (took 3 trips to the dealer for them to figure out what was wrong with it - turned out some component in the fiber optic network was failing causing the entire thing to reboot). Then there was water in the front passenger foot well - because of some dirt in the AC piping, and they literally had to take half of the car apart to clean that... It was powerful, but squeaky at times, and it just felt there was always something I wished they did different when they designed the car.

Now I have a 5.0i E70 and couldn't be happier. It's not even an M, but with sport package among other things - and it feels a lot better than the Cayenne. I'm sticking to the BMW, and probably will never buy another Porsche again.